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We just received this nice thank you note from our District 5830 Governor, Tom DeWitt:

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Just a note to summarize my enjoyment of visiting with your club. It has been a busy three weeks since I visited with you, but I hope my comments are valid as I again congratulate your for the success you are experiencing.

I hope everyone has seen the results of Bob's request that I find out why Rotary was not an approved charity for donations from Ebay and Amazon transactions. Rotary enjoys a flat administration and within a few days our Zone Director Karen Wentz had gotten us approved by Amazon and they are working on Ebay. The power of what one Rotarian can have.

Twelve new Paul Harris Fellows!!! WOW!!!! What evidence of your commitment to our organization. The $3,712 in donations to the Annual Fund and $4,261 to Polio Plus indicate that you took advantage of the matching program within the District, with 100% of your membership contributing.

Your activities with the schools, teacher of the year, will pay dividends within your community for years to come. I also know that your participation in the Smith County Leadership meetings will make all of us more successful in sharing our Rotary story with the public.

Since I was around when the Bullard Club was established, I take a great deal of pride in the Children's Park and tree planting that highlight what you mean to your community. Please keep Fran aware of your service projects and fund raisers, you will be surprised at the number of Rotarians from other clubs that will want to support your efforts.

Anne and I have not yet opened the wines you gave me, but we will and I will let you know how much we enjoyed toasting our friends in the Bullard Club when we do! I appreciate your friendship and support and congratulate you for all you do for Bullard, The District, Rotary and the World.

If you were like me, then last Thursday you were riveted on the speaker as we learned first hand what it takes to catch a counterfeiter. Superb Program John Jones, Hats off.

We also recognized our 2 Students of the month for November. Cameron Sanson and Kelsey Long, both Seniors at Bullard High this year had impressive credentials and were more than qualified candidates. I still can't figure out how they have time to do everything they do: maintain outstanding grades, participate in sports, play musical instruments, and donate their time to the school and community. It's certainly an accomplishment that both they and their parents should be extremely Proud of. Kudos to our November 2013 Students of the Month.

We've had the good fortune of meeting and recognizing some outstanding young Men and Women in the Bullard community through our Student of the Month Program. Here's a recap of the last three Month's Students of the Month:

March 2013 Nicholas Cool Brook Hill School

April 2013 Zack Holladay Bullard High

May 2013 from Brook Hill Caleb Wagner. Give these deserving kids a thumbs-up if you see them around town.

Once again our Club sponsored two RYLA Campers this year and recently they came to talk about their experience and relate how they changed as individuals in 2 short days. Mary Pollard and Cody Hutson were the two campers we sponsored this year and from the sounds of it, not only did we make good choices from the list of nominees but the experience changed them forever. If you were in attendance you know what I mean. If you didn't make it you missed out on some exciting insightful stories. Congratulations Mary and Cody. You made our club proud.

For more information about RYLA, talk to Brandon Johnston. He's our resident expert and RYLA coordinator. He and his selection did a great job selecting candidates this year. Thanks Brandon.

2013 Bullard Rotary Club RYLA Camper Mary Pollard discusses the many challenges and obstacles she and her fellow campers confronted at the RYLA weekend in February.

2013 Bullard Rotary Club RYLA Camper Cody Hutson describes what it was like for him personally during the RYLA Weekend and how it made him look at himself as a whole person.

Our Student of the Month for February 2013 is Scott Lowrie from Bullard High. Accompanying Scott were his proud parents Kirk and Susan.

Scott is heavily involved in academic, sports and extra curricular endeavors. Scott is the Valedictorian of his senior class. He's run track and played basketball and is involved with Boy Scouts, Bullard Southern Baptist Youth and Praise Band, Spanish Club, Key Club and both the robotics and solar Car Team.

After High School Scott plans to attend UT Tyler and major in Electrical Engineering.

Scott's hobbies include fishing, hunting swimming and basketball. Congratulations to Scott, well deserved.

Although there has been a lot of activity for 2 months now on the playground project, it really kicked into high gear last week as all the columns and posts were set and plumbed. There were a lot of volunteers last Friday the 4th and Saturday the 5th of January that did a lot of work and made a huge dent in the prebuild task list. Thanks to all who helped last weekend and rest up because the fun begins Wednesday! See you there.

This week we honored our January Student of the Month from Brook Hill School Coleman Bean. Coleman is extremely involved in many activities at Brook Hill. As well as being involved in Student Council, National Honor Society and the Cannon Guard at the school, Coleman is involved athletically on both the baseball and golf teams. Awards Coleman has earned include Headmaster's Honor Guard and Distinguished Christian High School Award in the area of leadership.

Coleman's proud parents Sara and Bradley were on hand when Coleman accepted the award. Coleman is a senior and will be attending Texas A&M in the fall studying Aerospace Engineering. We wish you well Coleman and Congratulations.

It was another successful Thanksgiving Meals Project for the Club. It looks like over 80 meals were distributed to deserving families in the Bullard Family. If you haven't yet had a chance to be part of the delivery process, mark it on your calendar for next year. It will open your eyes.

For those who don't remember or became members since we first began delivering Thanksgiving Meals, it was the Brain Child of David Detton. Thanks David. This annual event has helped to shed positive light on all the good things our club does. Here's a few pictures of the crew in action.

Chris Green's family helped to distribute some of the meals. They made it a family-learning event. I'm sure Chris' kids eyes were opened.

Four of Bullard Rotary's Finest Load up to deliver!

Meals waiting to be picked up:

Thanks for all that you do all year long to make this worthy project a huge success.

If you were at the meeting this morning, you had the good fortune of listening to Ray Gallagher, owner of We Touch the Sky, LLC, Hot Air Balloon company.

Ray's story was fascinating and if you were like me, could have listened to him and asked questions for another hour at least. Ray was the guest of Jamie Crawford who as we now know is becoming a balloon enthusiast himself. Thanks Jamie for bringing Ray. I was thinking, wouldn't a ride in a hot air balloon be a great raffle prize for next year's fund raiser??? Think about it and let Chris Green know your thoughts.

When Rotary first started the fight against polio in 1985, the disease affected 350,000 people every year in 125 countries. Since then, polio has been reduced by 99%. We are “This Close” to ending polio.

Fewer than 700 new polio cases were reported in 2011 and only three countries have never stopped the disease. For a little as US$0.60, a child can be protected against polio for life.

If we don't finish the fight right now, more than 10 million children under the age of five could be paralyzed by polio in the next 40 years.

Rotary and its partners – The World Health Organization, UNICEF, CDC and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - have reached more than 2.5 billion children with the oral polio vaccine, preventing more than five million cases of paralysis and hundreds of thousands of deaths.

Polio will be only the second human disease in history -after smallpox- to be eradicated worldwide. Ending polio forever is a critical step toward protecting all children from vaccine-preventable diseases. A win against polio is a win for global health.

Bullard Rotary Club recognized Meredith Daly as their Student of the Month for September 2012. Meredith is a Senior at Bullard High and is currently ranked 4th in her class. Her Parents Ronnie and Dinah and younger brother Drake were also in attendance for the recognition ceremony. Among her numerous awards and achievements Meredith is the President of the National Honor Society at Bullard High, has been a member of Student Council for four years as well as a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Meredith is also involved in athletics. She is the captain of the Varsity Volleyball team and has play on the team for four years. She ran Track for one season, is a Varsity Cheerleader and played club volleyball for two years.

She has a list of other awards and accolades, in addition to her class ranking, including A Honor Roll 10th and 11th grade, Academic All-District Student Athlete, and All-East Texas, Honorable Mention, Miss Armed Forces Essay Scholarship Contest Finalist and is the class of 2012 Homecoming Queen.

Her hobbies include reading, volunteering and hanging out and relaxing with friends. Upon graduation, Meredith plans to attend UT-Austin and Major in Communication Sciences and Disorders in order to become a speech-language pathologist.

Bullard Rotary members are proud to recognize Meredith Daly as out September 2012 Student of the Month.

Bullard Rotarian, Guy Martin, was honored at the 2012 Rotary International District 5830 Conference by Mark Cox. Martin was recognized for his role in bringing the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) to the District 16 years ago.

On Nov. 23, the Bullard Rotary Club provided 65 Thanksgiving meals to families in need.

Families were given an option to either pick up their meal from club members at the Bullard Elementary or have it delivered to their home. The meal included a precooked turkey, dressing, rolls, and giblet gravy with enough to feed a family of at least six

Last year, the Rotary Club provided 50 meals to needy families and looks forward to expanding its giving in the future.

“This has become a Rotary Club tradition here in Bullard as this is the second year in a row we have done it,” said club member Rachel Shoemaker. “We love having the opportunity to serve our community and what better way than to provide a free Thanksgiving meal to families in need this year.”

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